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<title>The Sounds of Silence by Emrys MK (mk_malfoy)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23966353">The Sounds of Silence</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mk_malfoy/pseuds/Emrys%20MK'>Emrys MK (mk_malfoy)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Battle of Hogwarts Anniversary, Gen, Post-Canon, Severus Snape Lives, Severus Snape Reflects, Short One Shot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:35:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>434</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23966353</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mk_malfoy/pseuds/Emrys%20MK</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Severus Snape is reminded of a day he'd rather forget.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Sounds of Silence</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I had the urge to write a little something to commemorate today's anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, so here is what I came up with.</p><p><b>Disclaimer</b>: I do not own any of this. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury books, Scholastic Inc., Warner Bros., and any other entities involved. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Severus stood on the north tower and looked down over the immense, deserted grounds.</p><p>Hogwarts. May 2, 2020. It was a vastly different atmosphere than it had been on this date in 1998. For one, the grounds were eerily silent—the students had been sent home mid-March, the only living inhabitants of the United Kingdom's wizarding school being Minerva and himself—but the results of Covid-19 weren’t the genesis of Severus’s current morose thoughts. </p><p>A battle that had raged for hours, taking far too many lives, was.</p><p>A sardonic chuckle.</p><p>The battle had, after all, also taken his life… for a time.</p><p>It had been a foregone conclusion, of course. Severus had never entertained thoughts that he would see another day once summoned by the Dark Lord.</p><p>Yet, here he was.</p><p>Alive.</p><p>It was far more than he deserved.</p><p>“Damn, you, Potter,” he muttered as he stared at the Whomping Willow. “Why couldn’t you have left well enough alone?”</p><p>“I see you are as bitter as ever.”</p><p>Severus whipped around so quickly that he nearly lost his balance. Even as an adult, Harry Potter was the bane of his existence.</p><p>“No, ‘hello, Harry, it is so good to see you?’ I am wounded,” Potter said, a smirk on his face and in his voice, but there was no malice intended.</p><p>There never had been. </p><p>And that was the rub. That was what Severus Snape would never understand. “Why start now?” was all he could force out.</p><p>“Why indeed?” Harry replied, but the small smile faded as he looked out over the grounds. “I didn’t mean to impede on your time but Minerva invited me for tea—don’t look at me like that, we sat six feet apart—so rather than the usual owl, I decided to come thank you in person.”</p><p>Just as these words to Severus had done the previous twenty-one times, they hurt on this occasion every bit as much. Not that Severus wasn’t appreciative of them, he was, but what they represented was more than he could cope with. Yes, perhaps he had done things over the years that might be worth a thank you, but he had done far more that was worthy of censure and hatred. </p><p>Severus inclined his head. It was all he could do. </p><p>He didn’t want to be here. He was angry that Harry Potter had saved his life. But Severus would never take anything away from Lily’s son. The boy who had every right to detest the man responsible for his parents’ deaths had saved his life.</p><p>That was surely worthy of Severus Snape’s silence.</p>
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